Choose the “Ignored but Important” Problems

If you scroll through any thread on Reddit's r/CareerGuidance asking people what changed their careers, you’ll notice something fascinating. It’s often stories about saying yes to something everyone else ignored.

One user wrote, “I work in land surveying. I was a field guy, and the company wanted another person in the office. No one wanted to do it, so I did. I’m now on my way to being licensed and I work from home. I guess doing what other people don’t want to do.” (u/campmars6089) Another echoed that idea: “Find the things that are important, that no one else wants to do.” (u/BimmerJustin)

That line should be engraved on every career coach’s wall. The most transformative moves often begin as chores.

The Work Everyone Avoids

When you look back on inflection points in successful careers, they often involve what I call “ignored but important” problems—those unglamorous, high-friction areas that no one has time, incentive, or appetite to fix. Everyone wants to work on AI strategy, not audit trails; on brand storytelling, not internal documentation. Think compliance workflows, data clean-ups, safety documentation, or legacy processes that everyone tiptoes around.

These are the “leaky pipes” of an organization: annoying, vital and invisible. Step in to fix one, and you immediately become useful in a way that transcends your title. Take u/BimmerJustin, who shared: “When a role came up to do product safety, a mostly paperwork job, none of my coworkers wanted to do it, so I did. This move put me on a path to a specialty within my field that’s well paid, with plenty of remote work opportunities, and limited competition for roles.”

That combination—credibility plus scarcity—creates leverage. It’s what makes promotions feel inevitable, and job searches short. That’s how moats are built.

In business strategy, a moat is what protects a company from competitors—a unique advantage that’s hard to copy. The same logic applies to careers.

Taking on unglamorous, essential work creates a personal moat. You build knowledge few others have and trust that can’t be bought. When layoffs or reorganizations hit, you’re not just “in marketing” or “in operations,” but you’re the person who keeps the machinery running.

How to Spot “Ignored but Important” Work

The good news is that every company has these opportunities. You just have to know what to look for.

• Recurring pain points. What do people keep complaining about without fixing? That’s your entry point.

• Process friction. Where do things routinely stall or break down?

• Ambiguous ownership. If it’s vital but no one’s name is on it, that’s opportunity.

• Hidden leverage. Which small fixes could make other teams faster or better?

The sweet spot is a problem that’s unsexy but consequential—a task that improves performance, reduces risk, or unlocks capacity.

Making Invisible Work Visible

Taking on neglected work is only half the equation; the other half is ensuring it’s recognized.

• Frame it strategically. Don’t say you’re “cleaning up data.” Say you’re “building a reliable reporting foundation.”

• Measure impact. Show before-and-after improvements in time, cost, or accuracy.

• Share progress. Regular updates turn invisible effort into visible leadership.

• Link to business value. Make it clear how your work enables others to perform better.

By doing so, you transform grunt work into growth work—and others begin to associate your name with progress.

The Bottom Line

The best career advice isn’t “follow your passion” or “build your brand.” It’s simpler—and tougher:

Do the work no one wants to do, especially if it matters.

One user took a job everyone dismissed as “just paperwork” and turned it into a lucrative specialization. Another stepped into a leadership vacuum and built expertise no one else had. Over and over, the lesson was the same: your next big opportunity won’t look big at first.

Next time someone asks you to take on the unclaimed, the broken, the boring—pause before you say no. That might just be the project that changes everything. Because in the end, the work everyone avoids is the work that makes you indispensable.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the positions or opinions of our affiliated organizations.